A man dreamed that he was sitting on a couch between his divorced mother and father. He was in the 8th grade. His mother’s head was full of snakes that looked quite threatening and they were green and gooey.

My interpretation of the dream

The first question I asked him was whether he blamed his mother for the divorce. He responded that he had talked with her the night before this dream about the divorce that occurred in an important stage of his life. He noted that he looks like his father and was absent-minded like his father which drove his mother up the wall.

Snakes often signal transformation. The mother in the dream is his mother interject which is usually the basis of emotions. The dream is saying that he went through a major emotional transformation when he was 14 which was in fact when the divorce occurred.

The mother having snakes for hair replicates the Medusa archetype. In Greek mythology, Medusa was a fearsome image and men they looked at her turned into stone. Medusa is a perfect image in this instance.

I believe Medusa shows up also because emotionally he felt his mother was stony and rigid towards him. She could break the dreamer down with one cold stare when he was young. These stares occurred mainly when she equated him with his father because of the similarity of looks and actions.

I had a dream that I was a passenger in a two seater small Cesna propeller plane. The pilot was a psychology professor who influenced me strongly as far as what graduate school to attend. He was a hip New Yorker of Jewish faith who gave me advice about my girlfriend.

He was supposed to land the plane on top of the Empire State Building for some reason, but was afraid to do it because it would take extraordinary skill. Then I saw another professional piloting an identical plane who safely landed on top of the empire state building. He did it by flying as slowly as possible, and then cutting the engines, and dropping maybe four feet so that he landed behind a retaining wall that kept him from going off the building.

My whole feeling was something like “Oh, that’s how it is done” with deep admiration for this other pilot’s skill. What could it mean?

This dream appeared in the Power of Dreams page on Facebook sponsored by Dale Miesen. Some experienced dream interpreters were kind enough to help me.

One interpreter offered the following:

“Maybe it’s a call to open your mind to other possibilities aside from your usual knowledge and trusted theories that have gotten you this far. They might not make sense to you at first but if you open yourself to them you will find that they do make sense but in a way you never would have thought. Also maybe something around things that you previously thought impossible or improbable may in fact hold the answer.”

Another interpreter offered the following interpretation:

“I’m so honored to be inside your head and Wow! Your vehicle here is a plane instead of a car which tells me you know how to pilot through life well. (It also tells me how you view yourself.) It is also a Cesna (which I’ve flown) and they are the Cadillacs of planes with almost everything computerized and can almost fly themseves. Nice!

In this dream you are seeing the other you who is also a psychologist who pilots the plane as you try to observe how he (you) will land it. This is you evaluating You. You seem to still be worried though and need a better look so you “split” yourself (spirit) or “view” yet again as you watch an identical plane in the sky achieve the maneuver. The maneuver was done “slowly” with a safety net as represented by the retaining wall. The Empire State building says you have your sights set on something high of the highest importance as well.

If there is a decision on something you are currently going back and forth about in your head I believe you are telling yourself to go slowly and do so with a safety net in place when it’s time as this is of the utmost highest importance. And THAT’S “how its done” safely, without worry.”

“Empire” State building could represent an empire you have built in life such as a retirement and you are thinking of “landing” your vehicle (retiring) but wish to do so safely with a “safety net” in place. At any rate, you have been pondering something big in your head.

A third interpreter offered the following interpretation:

“Is there a question of how you approach your next project? The answer, I believe, is in your observation of how the other professional landed his vehicle, not necessarily the known professor who was there for you in your past. You may admire another influence who is new in your life whose method will serve you better in order to get to the next phase of your professional career.”

My Reaction to the Interpretations

Wow, Danielle and Wendy, great insights. I think I know what the possibilities might be. I loved being a practicing psychologist, and for years felt like I should write. As you can imagine, if you have 25 to 30 clients per week, with the paperwork and all, you really don’t have much time to write books.

I never felt I had anything to say until I was older. It now I feels like I have a lot to say and can say it coherently which was never the case in the past. I actually imagine sometimes that I should think about writing full time. My appetite was whetted by my first book which actually clarified my thinking quite a bit.

It has been my experience that flying dreams are usually big dreams. Maybe I should “slow down” my private practice so that I can reach new heights in a different way. Wendy, I knew you would grab onto the plane-flying being a pilot. Danielle, you are wise and know how things work in the world.

This again reinforces how big breakthroughs come so much faster with dreams. It helps immensely to have someone outside of yourself look at your dream. I can try and usually be objective mostly about my dreams, but the dreamer is usually biased so that the dreamer misses a lot. Thank you, Thank you :^)